How Roofers Get Found on Google Maps

Roofing Is a Maps Business

Nobody browses for a roofer. They notice a stain on the ceiling or a cracked tile after a storm, pick up their phone and search. What comes up first is the map box, and most of them call one of the three businesses in it.

We work with several Melbourne roofing companies, including one we built from scratch for the northern suburbs. This article sets out what moves a roofer into those map results, in the order we would do it.

What Google Looks At

Google's own guidance says local results come down to three things: relevance, distance and prominence. Relevance is how well your profile matches the search. Distance is how far you are from the person searching. Prominence is how well known and well regarded the business is, which in practice means reviews, links and how complete your online presence is.

You cannot change where your business is based. Everything else is in your hands.

Separate the Jobs: Repairs, Restoration, Replacement

These are three different customers. A repair search is urgent and the person wants someone today. A restoration search is planned: they are comparing quotes and looking at photos. A replacement is a large decision that takes weeks.

Each needs its own page on your website and its own service on your Google Business Profile. A single 'Our Services' page that lists all three in a paragraph gives Google very little to match against any of them.

• Roof repairs and leak detection
• Roof restoration, including cleaning, re-pointing and re-coating
• Roof replacement and re-roofing
• Gutter and downpipe replacement
• Colorbond and metal roofing
• Skylights and roof ventilation, if you do them

Build Suburb Pages That Say Something Real

Roofing work depends heavily on the age and style of the housing. Tiled roofs from the 1970s and 80s in Broadmeadows and Glenroy need re-bedding and re-pointing. New estates in Craigieburn and Mickleham are mostly Colorbond and concrete tile, and the calls are about storm damage and builder defects.

A suburb page that talks about the roofs actually found there, and shows photos of jobs you have done in the area, is useful to a homeowner and credible to Google. A page that says 'We offer roofing in Epping' followed by the same text as every other suburb is neither. If you have nothing specific to say about a suburb, it does not need its own page yet.

Photos Do the Selling

A homeowner cannot judge a roofer's work from the ground, so they judge it from photos. Before-and-after pairs are the most persuasive thing a roofing business can publish.

Take them on every job. Put the best on the relevant service and suburb pages and add them to your Google Business Profile regularly. Mention the suburb in the caption when the customer is happy for you to.

Be Ready When the Weather Turns

Searches for roof repairs jump after heavy rain, hail and strong wind. The roofers who pick up that work are the ones already visible when it happens. You cannot build rankings in the week of a storm.

What you can do in the moment is update your profile: post that you are taking emergency calls, check your hours are correct and answer the phone. A missed call during a storm goes to the next roofer on the list.

Make It Easy to Trust You

Roofing has more than its share of door-knockers and cash operators, and homeowners know it. Put the things that separate you from them where people can see them: your registration and insurance details, how long your workmanship warranty runs, and reviews from named local customers.

Ask for a review at the end of every job. A profile with a steady flow of recent reviews that mention the suburb and the type of work is very hard for a competitor to catch.

Where to Start

If you do one thing this month, complete your Google Business Profile properly and start asking every customer for a review. If you do two, add a page for each of your main services. Suburb pages and Google Ads come after that.

You can read how this played out for a real business in our Seven Roofing North case study, or ask us for a free audit and we will show you who holds the map results for roofing in your area and what it would take to join them.